Jon Marks
Despite all the years plying his various trades — radio and TV reporter, college professor, author and umpire for more than 2,000 baseball and softball games — in many ways Larry Litwin is still the same “young fella,” as Howard Cosell used to call him.
While that was more than 50 years ago and the 78-year-old Litwin has reached an age where most men and women might start winding down, he’s still constantly on the go. Not only that, but the man who not only worked with Cosell but Howard K. Smith, Frank Reynolds and Peter Jennings during his time at ABC News, has a simple formula in life.
It’s the same message he tells players every time he dons his umpire’s mask.
“If I’ve learned anything, it’s that today is the most important game being played,” he explained during a short gap between umpiring one game and heading out for a high school baseball reunion. “The game you’re doing that day is the most important game being played, whether it’s a freshman, varsity or JV game.
“Umpiring 2,000-plus games is truly a dream. Thank goodness I’m healthy. When I started out 46 years ago, it was for $3 a game. Now it’s $100. But like my partner said to me today, ‘I would do it for nothing.’”
Cosell might cringe hearing such talk from Litwin, who tells the story of having to call the famed announcer early one September morning in 1970 to break the news of legendary coach Vince Lombardi’s death.
“Howard used to record his show ‘Speaking of Sports’ the night before, and it would air at 7:25 in the morning,” said Litwin, who took that job after starting on the air at WTMR in Camden, not far from where he’d grown up in Pennsauken. “That’s when I got to know him. We’d just sit and chat.
“On the day Lombardi died, I called him at 7:15, and his wife woke him up. When he heard the news, he said he was going live and came on and ad-libbed the show over the phone. When it ended, he said, ‘I want to talk to the young fella.’ He was always nice to me.”
Litwin’s had that effect on a lot of people over the years, especially in the Jewish community. The kid who became a bar mitzvah at Temple Beth El when it was in Camden later would drive 35 miles to the nearest synagogue during his years at Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa.
Once he and his wife, Nancy, returned to the area for good in the early 1970s, they became fixtures at Beth El, sending their son, Adam, and daughter, Julie, there through bar and bat mitzvot. They stayed there until 2008, when, after attending the bar mitzvah of a former student’s son at Temple Beth Hillel in Carmel, New Jersey, the Litwins decided it was time for a change.
“We had spent all day with the congregation and, driving home, Nancy asked me, ‘How would you feel about switching?’” he recalled. “She used the word ‘family’ describing them. That’s how we wound up there.”
They’re happy to have him.
“He’s been a board member of mine for about 3-4 years,” said Jay Einstein, president of the since-expanded Temple Beth Hillel – Beth Abraham. “He’s made an enormous contribution because of his familiarity with public relations and media. He just asks the right questions, and he and his wife have been extraordinary members. He’s a great guy. And he calls a pretty decent ballgame I’m told.”
This was hardly the first time Litwin changed course in midstream. That’s because, from his early days producing ABC’s “World of Sports,” he’s always been in demand. Over 57 years, he’s compiled quite a resume, which includes:
• Forty-two years as an adjunct and full-time faculty member at Rowan University, focusing on strategic communications, which entails public relations, advertising, marketing and electronic media. After retiring from Rowan, he became an adjunct professor at The College of New Jersey, as well as Atlantic Cape Community College, Stockton University and Wilmington University in Delaware.
• Ten years as an education reporter at KYW NewsRadio. In addition, he co-hosted “Eyewitness Newsmakers” on KYW-TV with Malcolm Poindexter. That was his second stint at KYW, where he worked briefly as a freelancer after college.
• Two years as deputy regional director of information and public affairs for the Dept of Labor under Secretary Elizabeth Dole.
But that’s not all.
From 1990-‘99 he ran Hello Sports Fans, which sold licensed sports apparel and where players like Ken Griffey Jr., Donovan McNabb, Eric Lindros and Charles Barkley, among others, might drop by. That sports connection came about, in part, through his involvement with such events as the NBA and NHL All-Star Games, the Philadelphia Golf Classic and March Madness.
That’s what gained him entry into the Philadelphia Sportswriters’ Association where, in 1967, he became its secretary, a post he held until becoming treasurer in 2012. And if that weren’t enough, since the 2009 death of Harry Kalas, Litwin’s taken over as master of ceremonies at the organization’s annual dinner.
Want more?
Litwin’s written four public relations-oriented books, as well as several articles for national magazines while contributing to several college textbooks. He even got mentioned in Curt Smith’s “Voices of the Game” for his call of Pete Rose’s 3,631st hit, breaking Stan Musial’s National League record in 1981.
Then there are all the honors and awards he’s won over the years, too numerous to mention. But that’s gained him entry into both the South Jersey Baseball and Camden County Halls of Fame.
With all those laurels, though, Litwin is as busy as ever, putting his energy into calling balls and strikes for kids who have no idea the man in blue is a veritable legend.
“Communication is key,” he emphasized. “I read them the sportsmanship statement before every game and introduce my partner and myself.
“When I’m finished, I say to the players, ‘Do you understand?’ They have to say ‘yes.’ Then I tell them, ‘We’re here to serve you. Good luck. And above all have fun.’”
Because you know the “young fella,” Larry Litwin, surely will.
Jon Marks is a Philadelphia-area freelance writer.